Originally written in 2004 and revised in 2026, my piece “The End of Geography?” is published on Medium. I consider claims alleging geography’s demise in the context of territorial space versus cyberspace. This is the latest contribution to my Student Papers Archive.
Read: https://medium.com/@c1typlann3r/the-end-of-geography-69adb0941440?sk=23443ada3bd86b5aa638547cb5f7506e
No Context-inspired photos from my upcoming publication:
“The End of Geography? An Analysis of Virtual and Physical Spatiality in the 21st Century.”
I wrote the original version of this paper for Professor Edward W. Soja’s course UP 233: Political Economy of Urbanization at UCLA Urban Planning and submitted it on May 5, 2004.
Intended readers were only Professor Soja and TA Miguel Kanai, which, in hindsight, explains my original’s overly academic tone. I’ve overhauled it for a wider audience though the arguments remain intact. The text is a faithful record of my position in 2004.
It’ll be published on Medium as part of my Student Papers Archive.
Continuing to release writings from my Student Papers Archive, here is Googling “New Regionalism”.
This analysis was submitted on April 20, 2005 in Edward W. Soja’s UP 230 Intro to Regional Planning course at UCLA Urban Planning. Google was fairly new and better at retrieving information than other search engines. At this point, Soja was writing less about Postmodernism, more about New Regionalism, and always “putting space first.” He asked us to go deep in the search results to uncover definitions of New Regionalism in this digital space.
20 years ago I submitted this final paper for UP 239 Utopias and Dystopias at UCLA Urban Planning. Read it here: Surveillance, Social Control, and Dystopia: An Annotated Bibliography on the “Security City”.
Scenes from USC Architecture from my 4/3 guest talk, “Building Embedded Planning Praxis.” The invited lecture was delivered in the USC Master of Heritage Conservation graduate course, Heritage Conservation Policy and Planning.
This is chapter 1 in the story of Embedded Planning praxis.
I lay out my path to Embedded Planning which includes coming up as graffiti writer and hip hop kid in the 80s & 90s, dropping out of architecture school in ‘98, and then finding urban planning thanks to Mike Davis and Edward W. Soja (both rest in power). Embedded Planning was co-created with community members in Florence-Firestone in South Central LA.
Who’s the cat in the photo?! In 2003 in the MAUP program at UCLA Luskin Department of Urban Planning, I took an architecture theory course where I learned Professor Gregory Ulmer’s CATTt method for writing a manifesto. I would go on to use the CATTt to write my 1-page manifesto on Embedded Planning titled, “We Cannot Plan From Our Desks,” published in the October 2018 issue of APA’s Planning Magazine.
And now we’re a worldwide movement in planning theories and practices.
Photos by Meredith Drake Reitan, Professor & Associate Dean. Thanks for the invite to speak with your MHC students!
Edward Soja and me on graduation day 17 years ago today. Grad school was tough. I felt the weight of the neighborhood on my shoulders. I nearly dropped out 5 times, but Ed inspired me to stay and keep at it. My work with Soja would help me create Embedded Planning years later. The moral of the story: Find mentors who inspire you.
Congratulations to my fellow UCLA Bruin planners graduating today 👏🏽 You’re the next generation of planning. We’re in good hands.
Draw on our past to inform (y)our future. See the work of Edward W. Soja, Jackie Leavitt, Leo Estrada, VC Powe, Marty Wachs, John Friedmann and many others who rest in power.
Keep the flame lit.
In solidarity,
JPB @c1typlann3r
Obituary for Edward Soja (1940-2015), by Mike the PoeT Sonksen
I declined a scholarship at another university to study urban planning under Edward W. Soja at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Ed will be greatly missed.
His legacy lives on in us.
In Memoriam: Edward Soja (1940-2015), Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning
A celebration of Ed’s life and work will be held Monday, January 25, 2016, from 4:00PM-6:00PM at the UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room.
You must be logged in to post a comment.